LGBTQ+ Updates/Support - Colorado Public Education Watch

Articles

April 2026
March 2026
Feb. 2026
- Federal court rules that Christian teacher has to follow the rules & use trans kids’ pronouns | LGBTQ Nation
Jan. 2026
- Schools Can’t Challenge Colorado Civil Rights Law, Judge Says
  - Federal judge recommends dismissal of lawsuit by Colorado school districts over transgender athletes | Chalkbeat
  - Federal Judge Recommends Dismissal of Lawsuit by Colorado School Districts Over Transgender Athletes | Colorado Times Recorder
- Education Department launches 18 Title IX transgender athlete investigations K-12 Dive
- Two ballot initiatives gathering signatures target transgender kids in Colorado | KUNC
- ‘Clever as serpents’: How a legal group’s anti-LGBTQ policies took root in school districts across a state | Hechinger Report
  - “The proposed policy, which would bar trans students from using bathrooms and locker rooms aligned with their gender identity, was a nearly verbatim copy of one crafted by a group called the Independence Law Center — a Harrisburg-based Christian right legal advocacy group whose model policies have led to costly lawsuits in districts around the state.”
- Why I teach an LGBTQ+ college course | News From the States
- Should schools reveal students’ LGBTQ+ identity to parents? Teachers to ask the Supreme Court to decide | K-12 Dive
  - This high school sophomore is aiming for a Supreme Court upset in transgender sports case
- Trump’s effort to get records on gender care falls flat in Colorado | CPR
Dec. 2025
- Colorado Springs-area districts settle with CHSAA’s role in transgender sports lawsuit | CPR
- Christians Who Don’t Sign Anti-Trans Petitions Are ‘Traitors’ to Jesus, Says Flatirons Pastor CTR
  - “Those numbers could be valuable for Protect Kids Colorado, an organization launched last year to push anti-LGBTQ policies through Colorado’s citizen ballot initiative process. For anti-LGBTQ activists, this allows them to circumvent the legislature, where Democrats hold a majority in both houses. The organization launched its all-volunteer signature-gathering campaign in September and has three more months to collect the required 124,238 valid signatures from Colorado voters to place the measure on the ballot.”
- Elderly Grand Junction Woman Vandalizes Queer Library Books Out Front Magazine
Nov. 2025

Out Rep. Angie Craig reintroduces bill to protect LGBTQ+ foster kids from rampant discrimination | LGBTQ Nation

Oct. 2025

Supreme Court turns away parental rights dispute brought by Colorado families | CBS

Aug. 2025
- Federal judge dismisses lawsuit on JeffCo policy on overnight rooming policy for transgender students | CPR
  - “The court ruled that the plaintiffs failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted and that parents’ rights to raising their children don’t extend to controlling a public school’s curriculum or policies.“
- EDITORIAL: Colorado transgender ‘deadnaming’ lawsuit is indefensible bigotry | Sentinel
  - “This lawsuit is not about freedom of speech. It is about denying respect and dignity to transgender people under the guise of constitutional protection.”
June 2025
- SCOTUS hands win to parents in LGBTQ+ curriculum opt-out case | K-12 Dive
  - “The key Mahmoud v. Taylor decision signifies a win for parents in Maryland’s largest school district and could impact school policies nationwide, as the court weighed in on LGBTQ+ curriculum policies that have contributed to a polarized national landscape.“
May 2025
- Conservative groups sue Colorado over new transgender anti-discrimination law | Sentinel
  - “The plaintiffs in the case include the Virginia-based conservative group Defending Education, which has challenged race-based initiatives and the teaching of issues related to race and gender in schools. Other plaintiffs include Colorado Parent Advocacy Network, Protect Kids Colorado, a health group called Do No Harm, and Travis Morrell, a Colorado dermatologist. They are represented by the Arlington, Virginia law firm Consovoy McCarthy.“
- Overhauled transgender rights bill passes Colorado Senate, heads to Governor’s desk
  - “One day before this year’s legislative session adjourns at Colorado’s capital, lawmakers passed a heavily amended version of The Kelly Loving Act.”
April 2025
- Don’t allow biological boys to compete with girls, Colorado school leaders ask high school athletic association
  - “The signatories included district and charter leaders from the counties of Pueblo, Mesa, Douglas, and metro Denver. Among them were Lori Thompson, president of the District 49 school board; Anne Ochs, president of the Pueblo District 70 school board; Christy Williams, president of the Douglas County school board; Lauren Nelson of the District 11 school board and Ian Stout, executive director of Loveland Classical Schools. “
- Transgender student athletes can compete in sports aligned with their gender despite conflicting federal and state laws
- Colorado law says transgender girls can keep playing school sports, despite a group of school leaders trying to ban them — and the Trump administration going after states that allow athletes to play in leagues that match their gender identity.
- The Colorado High School Activities Association, which governs high school sports in the state, says it does not have the authority to decide the issue.
- The organization issued a letter Tuesday saying school leaders should be allowed to act in accordance with their own values, while “honoring the legal obligations that govern their institutions.” The organization acknowledges there is a conflict between state and federal law and says it will continue to monitor the situation.
Oct. 2025

Christian group defending LGBTQ+ conversion therapy at SCOTUS accused of using ‘false evidence’ | The Advocate
- Supreme Court turns away parental rights case brought by Colorado families | MSN
- Supreme Court rejects hearing several cases, including on children’s gender identity | SCOTUS Blog
- Gay teacher doxxed by Libs of TikTok speaks out | The Advocate
- Colorado Springs teachers speak out against textbook censorship and anti-LGBTQ+ policies | Rocky Mountain PBS
- US judge to block Trump directive to cut ‘gender ideology’ from states’ sex ed materials | USA Today
  - “US Judge Ann Aiken in Oregon said she intends to issue a preliminary injunction at the behest of 16 states and the District of Columbia.“
- Judge to block enforcement of administration’s “don’t say trans” school rule | LGBTQ Nation
- Federal judge rules in favor of public schools in 16 states that refused to comply with Trump’s trans ban | The Advocate
Jan. 2025
- Federal judge rejects challenge to Colorado’s ‘chosen name’ law, District 27J’s LGBTQ policy
Dec. 2023
- Lawsuit from Colorado parents who claimed harm from after-school sexuality meeting dismissed | Colorado Newsline
  - “Wang’s decision throws a wrench into a growing conservative parents rights movement that aims to limit what schools can teach about gender, sexuality and race without the express written consent of parents. The case gained national attention from outlets like Fox News, which claimed a Colorado mother was suing the school district over a “secret gender transition club.”
Nov. 2022
- Colorado politicians have promoted anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and policies — from local school boards to Congress — that escalate violence, experts and advocates say
  - While campaigning this year, both Boebert and Ganahl made claims that furries, a subculture of people who create alter egos in the form of animal characters, are present in Colorado’s schools. Boebert went as far as saying some school officials had put litter boxes in bathrooms to accommodate students.
Colorado School Boards / Anti-Transgender Sports Policy
- Protect Kids Colorado, Lance Wallnau & the Seven Mountains Mandate
- District 49 suspends restroom, locker room policy based on ‘biological sex’ months after approval | The Gazette
- Colorado Springs school district approves policy on transgender student athletes
  - COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado — Colorado Springs School District 11 has approved a new policy requiring students to participate in school sports based on their biological sex, becoming the second school district in El Paso County to adopt such a rule.
- Rural Colorado district takes aim at LGBTQ policy protections, seeks to join trans athlete lawsuit
  - “The school board in the conservative-leaning Montezuma-Cortez district unanimously approved changes removing references to “sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression” from the policy. Also at Tuesday’s meeting, the board introduced a policy that would ban transgender students from joining school sports that match their gender identity — one that could permanently replace an emergency version adopted by the board in June. District 49 in the Colorado Springs area spearheaded the lawsuit in May, suing the state and the Colorado High School Activities Association over policies that allow transgender youth to play on school sports teams that match their gender identity. Court documents filed Tuesday indicate that the Montezuma-Cortez, Academy 20, and Colorado Springs 11 districts, along with Monument Academy, The Classical Academy, James Irwin Charter Schools, and Education ReEnvisioned BOCES, have asked to join as plaintiffs.“
- District 49 sues Colorado and state athletic association over protections for transgender students
  - The lawsuit, which also targets the Colorado High School Activities Association, is the latest volley in a battle over transgender student athletes in the conservative-leaning District 49. It could have implications for school sports across Colorado, putting what has generally been handled on a case-by-case basis up to a high-profile legal test.
- Outgoing Douglas County school board adds two agenda items to one of their final meetings
  - The second item added to the agenda is a discussion on a resolution, “Preserving Fairness and Safety in Sports.” It appears to be nearly identical to a resolution passed by a school district in the Colorado Springs area, District 49.
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